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Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Dining Nook Transformation - episode 14 out of ???

The For-Now Reveal

Before we push that door open, let me tell you that every part of the Cottage you are not seeing on pictures today is covered in boxes or stuff to sort out or stuff for next month's renovation... You can't even imagine the amount of stuff in front of the sideboard to the right of the picture!

The best thing about the day I took the pictures is that it was a very grey day. It might seem weird to think that as everybody else is waiting for sunny days to photograph their houses. But I'm so happy that now this part of the house is bright even on a rainy day.

I did set a little dinner party for you, but basically, I used the only plates that I hadn't wrapped and packed yet! I wanted the blue ones for the reveal, but they have been packed by my mother who kindly came to help me last weekend.

The flowers on the table are from my garden, the ones on the shelf from my mom's.

How convenient that the flowers block the view on boxes over boxes you could have from the glass door. If you want to picture what the living-room looks like, imagine the last part of Ikea stores where all you can see are cardboxes.

I still have a few projects for the dining-room, but if you don't mind I'll take a break from those during the upstairs renovation. I have kept a few things in or around Cottage that I haven't shown you, hoping to share them when I won't be able to show anything else, but I'm not sure I'll have actually time to write the posts. I will try to post every week or ten days in June an July, but please be patient!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Dining Nook Transformation - episode 13 out of ???Pediments

Before I begin on today's story, I need to explain something. Some of you seemed to freak out after reading that I was packing everything in Cottage. I'm not leaving, but the uptairs renovation plan for this summer is huge : all the electricity wiring needs to be redone. Since the drywalls need to be open to do that, we're actually going to remove them all and insulate them... Since nearly everything will be torn down, we'll also change the windows and add the one I wanted in the loo... That's why I need to pack everything that is currently upstairs.

Now about what was scheduled for today... Many of you seemed to relate with my shoe addiction, I confessed in a previous post. I'm wondering how many of you will relate to my hat addiction... I must say that since I've settled in Brittany, I don't wear my hats so much because we've got rather windy winters... and sometimes windy summers. My favourite panama hat may have drowned in a nearby harbour...

To dress up Cottage's dining nook, I had the idea to look for wardrobe pediments. The first one, the one that went above the door, was actually found by my mother for me. The second one was found at the unbeatable price of 5 euros at a nearby "empty-your-attic" sale.

The smaller pediment was covered in a shiny wood veneer and the beautiful carving made it impossible to sand properly. So I only lightly sanded and then I applied Farrow & Ball wood primer, but I didn't brush the primer, I tapped it on, like you would do for a stencil. I could have used a stencil brush, but they don't come cheap and so I created mine with an old used brush.

Believe it or not, yesterday, as I was packing away and getting the guest bedroom as ready as I could given the circumstances for an unexpected guest who arrives next Thursday, I managed to take a few pics of the dining nook. It wasn't sunny, but I figured if I didn't take them then, I'd never have time to take any before the June-July renovation.

You know how you often tell me I make such great choices for Cottage and then I begin blushing and all and I'm this close to quit my job and try be a professional interior designer??? Well this door is there to put me back in my place. Because this was NOT a good choice.

In most stores around here, the only doors that are on display are the very modern ones, so I couldn't find the look I was looking for. I decided to order this one after only seeing it on a catalogue, where it was looking all storybook-cottage-like.

When it arrived, it was not so perfect. First it wasn't straight. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not something that bothers me in people, but I like my doors to be straight so they can actually close. We had to lay it down and to put for several days all the dictionaries I have on it so it'd get straight again. Fortunately, I own a lot of dictionaries: French ones, English ones, even a Latin one!

PS1: I have begun to pack everything in the house for next summer isolation project, so the shop is closed until this is over... Thanks to those who send me an email wondering why there was nothing in the shop anymore!

About Me

I purchased an old fisherman's cottage that needs a complete makeover. Here I share renovation, decoration, inspiration, doubts and my everyday life in a house going under renovation while being lived in! Join me in the fun and the dust!